


Teenage Wasteland

by RealityJones



Category: Death Stranding (Video Games), The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Bisexual Disaster Luz Noceda, Bisexual Luz Noceda, Buff Luz Noceda, Canon Bisexual Character, Don't worry there'll be warnings at the start of those chapters, Eda is amazing, Eventual Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, F/F, F/M, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, Irregular Update Schedule, King is a Baby, Lesbian Disaster Amity Blight, Like Toenails, M/M, No Smut, No literally he is just wait, Not Beta Read, Oblivious Luz Noceda, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Luz Noceda, Total fluff at some point, Trigger Warning: Nails Getting Pulled, Trigger Warning: Terrorism and Bombings, Walking, attempted humor, but you have to wait and get through some things first, lots of talking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26595706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RealityJones/pseuds/RealityJones
Summary: The world can be a dangerous place, but Luz Noceda aims to find the beauty in danger. After the Death Stranding, America was split apart and connections across the world were lost. This necessitated the formation of a special kind of delivery person: a porter. Porters must deliver necessities that cannot be printed from a chiral printer, crossing dangerous terrain and passing even more dangerous creatures to ensure people get what they need. Luz admires the resolve and duty of a porter, and aims to become one with the help of her mentor, Edalyn Clawthorne. When there is a growing problem with a group only known as "The Enlightened" and multiple cities' connesctions going offline Luz must uncover the mystery of this foe with the help of her friends she meets along the way before her home and family are included on the list of cities that have gone off the grid.
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne & Luz Noceda, Eda Clawthorne/Camilia Noceda, King & Luz Noceda, Luz Noceda & Everybody
Comments: 4
Kudos: 43





	1. Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I am not claiming to own either of the properties Death Stranding or The Owl House. I simply love both of the worlds and characters that inhabit said worlds. I hope you enjoy and continue reading!

_ Why does the rain have to be so deadly? _ Luz Noceda silently questioned herself as she stared out the window to her room. She supposed many others wondered the same thing. She knew before the Stranding the rain was safe to go into, even without one of those suits that porters had. Whenever it rained, there was always something that caught the young woman's eye: the plants. Timefall always killed the plants, but then immediately there was always some there to replace the ones lost. It was a beautiful and cruel cycle, but such was life after the Stranding. 

Maybe she was being rash? I mean, she just came up with the idea a week ago, so she very well could be making a rash decision. Becoming a porter is not something you just  _ do _ out of the blue. You need experience, especially to join Bridges, and Luz knew that. "Just how the hell am I going to tell her?" She groaned.

"Tell me what, mija?" A tired woman walked into the room, setting her large bag down on the table. Luz jumped up, startled,  _ I am  _ sooooo _ not ready for this… _

"Oh, uh, welcome home, mami!" Luz launched into her mother to give her a hug, garnering an 'oof' from the impact.

"Woah! Luz!" Camilia stumbled, almost losing her footing, "I thought I asked you not to do that anymore!"

Luz looked up and gave a sly grin, "I don't remember you asking me specifically to not love you with everything I have~" 

Camilia huffed a laugh while prying her daughter off of her, "Ok, so what do you want?" 

Luz released the hug and stood up straight again while her mother sat down in the large arm chair. "W-well, I know you probably won't like this, but-"

" _ Luz _ , what did you break?" Camilia's voice became more stern, narrowing her eyes at her daughter.

"What!? Nothing, mami, nothing!" Luz laughed and wavered her hands in front of her defensively.  _ This is  _ much _ worse. _

"How much worse?" The sternness was gone from her voice, replaced with a great worry.  _ I said that out loud, oops. _ Was all Luz could manage. Why was this so difficult? "Luz, listen to me," Luz focused on her mother now, "you know I love you, and you're old enough to decide who you are and what you want to do with your life. If you are afraid that I'm going to try and control who you are," she paused and held her hand out towards her daughter who took it tenderly, "well, just know that your life is your own, not mine, okay mija?"

Luz felt a small smile pulling her lips, "Really?" Camilia nodded with a tender smile and it looked as if she were about to speak when Luz excitedly yelled, "So you're okay with me becoming a porter!?"

The smile became strained and her eyes went wide. "Wha?" Camilia seemed stunned into silence, her mouth open but not producing any audible sound. It took a minute or two, but she finally spoke, "You  _ what _ ?" At first, it would appear to be that she was just trying to get her bearings, but Luz knew that tone. It's not like she didn't know the possible outcomes. It still didn't prepare her for the hour long rant about how porters died all the time, about all the injured porters she herself had treated and all of their wounds. Yeah, it was at this point Luz knew: she fucked up. When her mother was done with the lecture she sat down ( _ When did she stand up? _ ) in the armchair and sighed, "Here I was, thinking you were coming out to me…"

"Wellllllllllllllll…"  _ Nope, bad idea, bad idea! _ Luz rubbed her upper arm nervously and looked away from her mother, "...about that…"


	2. Lesson 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda is tasked to talk to Luz about the woman's new desire to become a porter.

She hit the bed  _ hard _ , collapsing into an unwavering slumber. It would be about 15 hours before she woke up again. "Ugh, my back…" she'd say when she awoke, rubbing the sore area while she tried to blink her tiredness away, "why do I do this to myself?" As she finished, a knock came at the door to the private room, causing her to sigh, "Come in!" The door slid open and Camilia entered.  _ That's probably a reason I still do this,  _ "Missed me, huh Camilia~" Eda gave a smile and a wink. The nurse didn't respond, instead opting to plop down with a sigh through her nose on the bed next to the porter. "She finally came out, huh?" 

"Amongst other things, yes." She said quietly, staring off towards the wall.

"What, does she have a girlfriend or something?" Eda leaned forward to get a better look at her girlfriend. She looked troubled, "If they're a bit sketchy, you can count on me to look into it-"

"She says she doesn't have a girlfriend, Eddy," Camilia interrupted with exasperation, "but she has to have one! There is no other explanation for why she'd want to become a porter!"

"What!?" Eda jumped up, moving in front of the nurse, “Is your kid  _ nuts _ ?” 

Camilia wanted to argue, but in all honesty Luz might be a little crazy. She took a deep breath and held it for a second before releasing it, “I have a favour to ask you, Eda.”

Eda kneeled before her and took hold of her hands, “You got it, just tell me what you need.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“This is an awful idea.” A  _ mentorship _ ? Eda thought Camilia was going to ask her to convince the girl to rethink joining the ranks of Bridges porters, it seemed only logical. But no, here Eda was, in front of the door to the Noceda’s apartment, about to teach Luz about how to be a porter. Probably what confused the porter most was the fact that Camilia had asked her to specifically go into much depth about the more mundane parts of the job. Who would want to hear about how to walk so that you don’t get blisters all over your feet? Now that she thought about it, she would have liked to have heard about that kind of stuff. Eda rang the bell and the door opened, releasing a squealing banshee-

“HiI’mLuzbutIbetyoualreadyknewthatit’sanhonortomeetyou, Miss Clawthorne!” Luz threw her hand out to shake her new mentor’s hand, bouncing on her heels.

It took Eda a moment to process the words, but when she did she shook the young woman’s hand professionally, “Well, I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect the greatest of welcomes, but you delivered.” She gave a smile as Luz beamed, “May I come in?”

Luz was still beaming before processing the request, “Oh, pfft, yeah sure, come in!”  _ Real smooth, Noceda _ . The two entered the apartment. Eda looked around the living room. It was clean, and smelled decently. Actually, as she looked at the shining glass coffee table, it still had some soapy water on it.

“So, how often do you do the cleaning around here, kid?” Eda asked as she leaned against a wall.

Luz had just sat down and was already nervous,  _ Come on, you have to play your cards right, Noceda, or she won’t help you! _ “I-i do them usually,” she rubbed the back of her neck, “Usually she’s out trying to help others, y’know? heh…” 

Eda was busy picking through the words, trying to figure out what would make this girl choose the life of a porter, but that wasn’t how she liked doing things. She figured Luz wouldn’t lie to her since the girl seemed to practically idolize the woman. “So, Luz was it?” when the girl nodded she continued, “I’m gonna be straight with ya’, and I’m usually not straight,” she winked and paused. To her satisfaction, Luz snickered, “What in the hell made you want to become a porter of all things?”

Luz had admittedly been expecting this question, but she still didn’t have an answer. “I uh, don’t know?” she shrugged and smiled nervously, “I guess I just want to help people.” 

Eda looked at her for a minute. The kid had heart, she had to give her that, and the kid also seemed to have a decent physique for it. But she had to at least try to help her, “Listen, kid, it ain’t sunshine and rainbows out there, usually there’s-” 

“Usually there’s timefall, BTs, MULEs, mudslides, wild animals,” Luz listed on her fingers, “I know, my mom kinda told me about every little thing there is to be afraid of out there.” Luz had a bright smile, somehow, and Eda couldn’t believe it.

“And you still wanna go out there and risk your life for people you don’t know, risking dying many awful ways just to give someone a picture or something?” Eda said with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes,” Luz said with a determined look in her eye, “That picture may mean nothing to me, but to who it is being delivered to it could mean everything,” she stood suddenly catching the porter by surprise, “And if you care that little about what you’re delivering than you shouldn’t be a-”

“Relax, Luz,” Eda put her hands up in a calming, defensive manner, “I was just making sure you were serious about doing this,” Luz’s demeanor seemed to relax a little, not completely, but a little. “I mean, there are things that won’t kill you but will make your life suck out there and before  _ I _ ,” Eda placed a hand on her chest, “take you in under my wing I wanted to make sure you weren’t going to just quit when it got too tough.”

“Porters brave the toughest conditions to get a package to its destination, to bring relief to those who need it no matter what that relief may be, right?”

“Yeah,” Eda chuckled before ruffling the woman’s hair, “yeah  _ we do _ .” Luz’s demeanor went from serious to bouncing around the room excited again in a mere matter of milliseconds, “So, before I go get you the papers and stuff, we need to talk about some things.”

“Like what?” Luz tilted her head, eyes wide with curiosity.

“Well,” Eda sat down, but when Luz tried to sit down she propped her legs up on the couch, preventing the woman from sitting down, “for starters, get used to not sitting down for an entire day.” Luz groaned, but complied. Eda then began the first lesson she would give as a mentor. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! my first Owl House Fic. I'm writing this between classes so I'm having trouble giving good long notes. There will be Lumity eventually, but not yet~
> 
> Anywho, thanks for reading, hope you enjoy the rest!


	3. Time for a Funeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda gets an order!

“Eda, these boots aren’t that comfortable,” Luz complained. She didn’t want to complain on the first day of the job, but it was important to have good boots from what Eda had said.

“Well, kid,” she pulled a strap tight from behind her knee, “That may be the best you’re gonna get. I tried some Dr.Schlapps and it gave me blisters.”

Luz frowned. She tightened the boots and began to tighten other straps along the jumpsuit. It was specially made to withstand timefall and be essentially waterproof. It was a pale blue, in accordance with the standard Bridges uniform. It was pretty warm underneath, but not suffocatingly warm and not enough to sweat. _Not yet anyways_. She picked up the backpack. It wasn’t really a backpack, to be honest, it was more of a large rectangle of a tough canvas-looking material. It was designed so that it was attached to the suit and would move cargo in accordance with gravity and the wearer’s movements to lessen the effects of the load’s movement. “Eda?”

“‘Sup kid?”

"Will you be coming with me today?" Luz asked nervously.

"Well…" Eda rubbed the back of her neck, “I don’t know yet.”

“Aw, what?” Luz pouted.

Eda sighed, “Listen, don’t get your hopes up, kid,” she approached the terminal, “We don’t always get to choose our orders.” Eda pulled her wrist up, looking at the screen that appeared. Luz stood on her toes, trying to get a better view of the device.

“Hey Eda, when do I get one of those?”

Eda clicked on an order and accepted before the screen disappeared, “It’s a Cufflink. It’s your third best friend behind-”

“Boots and Odradek?” Luz said with a half-grin and raised eyebrow. “You still didn’t answer my question.”

“You complete an order with an experienced porter,” a couple of men wearing blue jumpsuits pushed a stretcher towards the duo, “which today’s your lucky day!”

Luz shrieked, “IS THAT A BODY?” She pointed at the human-shaped wrapped in a tarp-like material with a black line with ‘CAUTION’ in yellow lettering running down the middle.

The two men raised eyebrows towards the young apprentice before turning towards Eda for an explanation. “Well, yeah, don’t want it going necro in the middle of the city,” she stated matter-of-factly. She lifted the body into a sitting position before taking her backpack off and strapping the body to the inside. With a grunt she pulled the backpack onto her back again, “You see, if you let a dead body go for too long without burning it you get a BT,” she put her index and middle fingers to her forehead and saluted the two men who waved to her. She continued talking as they approached a circular chamber, “Come on, kid, this is common knowledge!” Luz rubbed the back of her neck with a slight shade of embarrassment to her cheeks. This didn’t go unnoticed by Eda, “Hey come on, cheer up kid!” she slapped Luz’s back playfully, “I’m here to learn you in the ways that you aren’t learned in!” She puffed her chest out proudly and pointed a thumb at herself. 

Luz was still embarrassed, “Thanks, Eda,” she smiled. Eda did know how to make her feel better, huh?

“Don’t mention it,” Eda stopped in the middle of the circular room. Luz stumbled as the floor began to rise. “Oh yeah, this is an elevator, try to get used to it.” Eda pulled a cord out from her side, plugging it into the oddly shaped cylinder connected to the middle of her chest. When it connected, Eda flinched and Luz could see tears beginning to form.

“Uh, Eda?” Luz asked in a worry filled tone.

“Huh? Oh this?” Eda pointed at the tears falling down her cheeks before waving dismissively, “Yeah don’t worry about that, it’s normal for connecting to a BB unit.”

“A ‘BB unit’?” Luz tilted her head, “What’s that?”

The elevator came to a stop within a large open room with a ramp at the end that led outside. Eda began to walk forward with Luz trailing behind. “A BB unit is what allows me to see a BT-”

“THEY’RE INVISIBLE!?” 

“You have a lot to learn, but luckily this’ll be a longer trip, so get your notes ready!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for the short update. I'm swamped with work rn and I'm trying to get some writing done in my spare time. This is actually my second fic I've ever done while the other one I have written is a lot more angsty so I'm not very experienced in writing comedy. Let me know in the comments how you feel about this fic because I LOVE getting feedback. Anyways, love y'all!


	4. First Day on the Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eda and Luz journey to the incinerator, but Luz is getting a feeling that this won't be the easiest first day on the job...

“Alright, let’s take a break,” Eda said with a huff before plopping down onto a comfortable looking patch of grass. Luz followed a little more gracefully, sitting cross legged. Eda began rubbing her leg muscles, “Alright, give me a recap of what ya’ learned, kid.”

“Oh, sure!” Luz excitedly said as she sat forward. “Well,” she counted on her fingers, “One: BTs are ghosts that drag you to the shadow realm if they find you, two: BTs are blind, three: bodies turn into BTs after a few days, four: BBs can see BTs because they’re half dead, five: dead bodies sway a lot.” Once finished Luz smiled proudly, looking at her mentor with an expectant shine in her eye.

Eda hummed while nodding, “Yeah, that’s good enough for now, kid.” She looked towards their destination and mumbled something the apprentice didn’t catch.

“What was that, Eda?”

“Oh, I was just saying maybe we can find a hot spring,” Eda said after a moment’s hesitation, “Hot springs are great at re-energizing you for a long trip, not to mention they’re great for BB units.”

“Oh, I see…” Luz knew she was being lied to, but she didn’t want to anger her mentor. She still wanted to learn, so staying on the good side of the only mentor that would probably be willing to help teach her how to survive out here was paramount. “So, what’s his name?”

“Huh? Who’s name?” Eda raised an eyebrow.

“Your BB, what’s his name?” Luz smiled and pointed at the BB containment unit that was the cylindrical device hooked up to Eda’s chest. The device had a metal bottom and an oddly shaped top that was black when deactivated, and when activated showed a small baby floating in liquid with an orange hue throughout. 

“Oh, you meant _him_ ,” Eda said with a hint of disdain, “this is Hooty, a bit annoying but he’s saved my butt more than any other piece of equipment.” Eda took the pod from her chest and began to rock it soothingly, “They tell you not to get attached to ‘em, but it’s kinda hard not to when they save your life so many times.”

“Awwwwwwww, you’re like a momma to him!” Luz cooed.

“I am not! He’s just useful to me.” Eda pouted while Hooty hooted.

“Awwww, he hoots! Hoot hoot!” Luz hooted along with Hooty while Eda breathed out a tired sigh.

“Alright, alright,” Eda grunted as she stood up, “we should get goin’.”

“Alright!” Luz jumped up. She looked towards their destination. A metal tower stood through the hills and mountains. The clouds around it were dark and heavy, with dark streams falling from them. Luz saw that in the distance when it rained at home. She knew those clouds and the upside-down rainbow. She didn’t need to be told about timefall and all of its dangers. She may not have known about BTs being invisible (which terrified her), but she _did know_ that BTs could be found in the center of the storm. _And we’re heading straight for the center…_

~~~ _One hour later~~~_

It started raining about fifteen minutes ago, which excited Luz when her suit’s hood automatically pulled over her head to protect from the aging effects of the rain. 

“Can I get an otter head!?” Luz bounced.

“I don’t know, kid, probably?” Eda shrugged, “Why would you want an otter hood, anyways?”

“They are the queens of the American rivers and lakes,” Luz flashed a devious grin, “and I want to be the queen of queens.”

“Fair enough!”

They continued walking, giving small talk for about twelve minutes before Luz began to get a weird feeling. “Eda, can we stop for a minute?”

“Not in timefall, kid, we can rest at the incinerator,” Eda pointed at the structure ahead, “it’ll be a few minutes, just push on until then, okay?”

“O-okay…” Luz was uncomfortable. She felt goosebumps on her arms and front. It caused a feeling of dread in her. She pushed on, however, figuring that Eda knew what she was doing.

They burned the body two minutes later, but then the duo’s Odradeks activated and began to track nearby BTs. Hooty got to work immediately, pointing out the BTs to Eda. The goosebumps kept getting stronger, and Luz was getting scared. Was this an everyday thing? If it was, Eda had to know how to deal with it, right?

“Shh!” Eda clamped her hand down over Luz’s mouth, “Listen, kid, you need to keep quiet around these things,” she whispered. “I thought we were going to miss them, so I neglected to tell you how to avoid them, but basically go as fast as you can while keeping as quiet as you can, alright?” Luz nodded and Eda slowly removed her hand, “Alright, let’s go.” 

Eda crouched and began to move towards the exit of the incinerator with Luz trailing close behind. The Odradek was pointing towards 10 o’clock. Eda waited for feedback from Hooty, who gave her the exact locations of three BTs: the closest was at 10, the second closest was at 2, and the furthest was at 12. _This could work…_ Eda began to move towards the second closest before changing directions to move to the left, carefully moving around the BTs and stopping at a large rock about thirty meters from the opening in the hills that the two porters had come from. Eda waved Luz forward, but Luz didn’t move. She felt the goosebumps on her right shoulder almost trying to pull out of her suit to the point that it was beginning to hurt. Eda turned to face Luz, trying to get her to move when she saw the BT moving in front of the girl. Luz could feel it there, seeing the trail of handprints it was leaving in the mud as it approached. Eda was motioning for Luz to back away, but the girl didn’t see her. Luz’s attention was completely focused on the current source of her fear. Her breathing hastened the closer it came, _Please go away, please go away, please go away-_

Eda heard the terrifying screech of the BT spotting Luz. Hooty began to cry, and the BTs were beginning to converge. “RUN KID!” Eda yelled before she began to run away from the opening they had taken and towards a different opening away from the incinerator. Upon seeing the ground begin to pour out black tar Luz followed her mentor’s orders and stood and ran forward, jumping over the several hands that- _wait, HANDS!?_

As Luz landed and continued running she looked back at the puddle and there weren’t just hands, but bodies, too. Humans, from the quick look she got before she turned forward and continued running towards the opening in the hills. She kept running for the next hour, the adrenaline finally depleted out of her system and her body collapsing with one final thought in her mind: _At least it stopped raining._ That’s when she fell face-first into the muddy grass and fell into a deep slumber. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, y'all! I just wanna say thank you for reading! There will be Lumity, just not yet. I promise! Also, I hope you enjoyed the action in there because I'm not confident in my action writing. If any of you have tips for writing action PLEASE drop them down in the comments I would appreciate it.


	5. Minecraft; The Way Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usually, the lands are barren and don't have many people. If you do meet someone, you probably should be cautious of them...

Luz felt a gentle rubbing of her shoulder, “Mmph…” The rubbing continued. “Just five mo… min… s…” 

“Uhm, excuse me?” A voice as gentle as the rubbing on Luz’s shoulder called out softly, “Are you alright…?” After a few more minutes of this, Luz stirred awake.

“Huh?” Luz lifted her head and spoke groggily and looked around. She didn’t recognize her surroundings, had she not followed the path?  _ No, there was no path to take… _ The timefall must have covered the path and Luz in her panic kept running. 

“Hey,” Luz looked up at the gentle voice’s source to find a young woman around her age wearing a white suit with her hood up. “Seriously, are you okay?” the hood pulled down, revealing her black hair and odd mask. She held her hand out for the latina to take, “Here, let me help you up.”

Luz took the hand and was pulled up surprisingly quickly,  _ Guess that suit’s skin-tight. _ Now that Luz was getting a better look at her, she was shorter than Luz, but larger than her by a few pounds, “Man, what protein shakes do you use?”

Behind the mask the beefy woman raised an eyebrow unamused, “Excuse me?”

Luz quickly waved her hands defensively, “Sorry! I meant it as a compliment!” A silence hung in the air for a minute before Luz held her hand out to the stranger, “Hi! I’m Luz, Luz Noceda!”

The stranger stared at the offered hand for a moment before studying the girl’s face. After a moment that could’ve only been a few seconds at most (but felt much more like several minutes to Luz) the stranger took the hand and gave a firm handshake, “Willow Park, independent porter.”

Luz gasped, “You can be independent! That’s so cool!”

Willow tilted her head, “Yeah, what you didn’t know that?” The porter looked the girl up and down, “Don’t Bridges members have a cufflink?” 

Luz nodded, “Well, yeah, but you have to complete an order with an experienced porter first-” her eyes widened in realization, “Eda!” She turned and began searching the horizon for her mentor.

“Who?” Willow asked, taking a step forward and searching the are with the girl.

“My mentor, she was helping me complete my first order! We got seperated at the incinerator when the BTs came!” She called out for her mentor, getting no response.

“I wouldn’t worry, if your mentor died to a BT there would’ve been a voidout.”

Luz stopped and faced the porter, “A what?”

“A voidout,” Willow began, “is when someone dies to a BT. It basically erases an entire area in a large radius, gotten a few cities, would’ve gotten here, too.” Willow waved her arm out. 

“So, everyone just dies in the radius?” Luz asked horrified.

“Pretty much,” Willow began to walk away, “Follow me, I can lead you back to the city if you want.”

“Please! I would love that!”

“Well, why don’t you tell me about yourself? We have an hour or so before we get there and I have a couple of deliveries to make along the way so you can also learn some tricks of the trade!”

Luz figuratively jumped at the opportunity and literally jumped forward to catch up, “Thank you so much!” She tapped her chin, “Where to start… Oh! So…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luz learned a lot about her new friend. Willow Park was an experienced independent porter with an order count of about one-hundred-twenty, and practically lived on her bike, Mona. Sadly, it was in the shop, but Willow promised to show her how to ride it later when the girl obtained a cufflink and they could contact each other. When the city’s entrance came into view they bid each other farewell and went their separate ways. Luz was glad to be back, finally, but the whereabouts of Eda were still unknown.  _ I hope she isn’t looking for me right now…  _

Luz heard the roar of a vehicle behind her and turned just in time to see a brown bike race past. It slid to a stop a few meters away and she saw her mentor push off the bike and sprint over to sweep the girl into a hug, “Where the hell were you?” Eda whispered in a shaky voice.

“I’m not sure,” Luz shrugged as she reciprocated, “but I met another porter and she helped me get back here! Her name is Willow-” 

“Tell me later, kid,” Eda hugged tighter, “right now just shh…”

Luz nodded against the woman, “Alright.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love the idea of Willow just being pure muscle so that's what she is here. Also, here 'mask' is just the Ludens Frames in the game and they have her prescription lenses in them. If you need an image for what those look like, look up "Death Stranding Ludens Sunglasses" in google images and you'll see why I discribe it as a mask. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and hope you are looking forward to the next few! I'll go ahead and say that I will introduce Gus first then Amity, kind of like the order in the show (but not really). Anyways, love y'all!


	6. I Like Pinã Coladas and Getting Caught in the Rain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a brand new episode of "How I met Your Mother" The Owl House x Death Stranding Edition!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, TW: Toenail pull, I apologize but I skip over the whole gross and blood so I think it's ok? But again, there is a toenail pull.

Luz slowly opened her eyes as she awoke. The room was darkened, but she knew it was her room. She knew the bed, after all. Not to mention the adorable otter onesie that was hanging on her closet door handle,  _ Wish I slept in that, _ Luz thought as she pushed herself up. Her feet hurt and her butt was probably the sorest part of her body right now,  _ I need a shower… _ She swung her feet off the bed and placed them on the ground before reeling them back up with a hiss of pain. Carefully, she untied the right boot first and gently pulled it off. She scraped her toe against the boot’s tongue and she had to bite down on her arm to keep from screaming out. Luz couldn’t contain her scream when she pulled the sock off, however. 

Camilia burst through the door, “Luz!? Are you okay?” 

Eda entered seconds later and upon seeing the slightly discoloured big toe she knew what was going to happen, “Crap… Alright, kid, let’s pull that off,” Eda sighed.

Luz’s eyes shot open, “What!?”

“Sweety,” Camilia sat on the bed next to Luz, “that needs to come off or it could become infected, alright?”

“Hell no it isn’t alright!” Luz scooted away from her mother in horror, “We can wait! It’ll fall off eventually!” Luz gave a nervous smile as she reached the end of the bed, “... _ please don’t _ …” she whispered.

Eda laughed ( _ She has the audacity to laugh about this!? _ ), “Listen, we love you, kid, but that thing is coming off one way or another,” she took a step forward and Luz could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears, “So you can do it yourself, or your mom holds you down while I pull it off.”

“Wait, why do  _ I  _ have to hold my daughter down?” Camilia asked.

Eda chuckled and with a wink answered, “You know why~” Camilia gave a hard glare at the porter.

Luz blinked, forgetting about the pain for a moment as the gears turned in her head, “Excsqueeze me?” The women turned to face the girl, “What’s going on between you two that I was not made aware of?” 

“Tear the toenail off yourself and we’ll tell you,” Eda answered after a moment. 

“Alright,” Luz reached down and lightly grazed the edge of the nail with her finger tip and instinctively pulled back. It hurt, it hurt a lot. While she was struggling with her toenail, Camilia began to argue with Eda.  _ Luz, this is going to hurt… _ Luz warned herself as she bent down and gripped the nail tightly, gritting her teeth through the pain. In one motion, she pulled the nail off.  _ I was right, this  _ does _ hurt, _ Luz thought before interrupting the two women by screaming several profanities.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours later and Luz was wearing a waterproof cast around her cleaned toe and was about to step into the shower. A fast-acting healing ointment was placed on the toe so that she could be walking by tomorrow. She stepped into the shower, enjoying the hot water that was washing the sweat off of her body. The water became colder, causing goosebumps to appear on her skin. 

Luz wouldn’t- no - _ couldn’t _ forget the feeling when the BT was close to her. She  _ felt  _ it approach. She felt it scream before she heard it scream. She felt it chase her. She had heard about BTs and how terrifying they were, everyone had, but to actually face one? It was a feeling like no other. She left the shower once she was clean and dried off and got dressed. As she entered the living room, she found Eda sitting on the couch.

“Hey kiddo,” Eda sat up stiffly, “how are you?” Luz noticed the nervousness in her voice.

“I’m good,” Luz lied, but she wasn’t  _ terrible _ , just a little shaken up from the experience.

Eda gave a small smile and nodded, “Good, good…” The room took on an uncomfortable atmosphere. Luz knew there was something Eda wanted to say, and Eda knew she knew.

“Soooo…” Luz sat down next to her mentor in a relaxed position, “How long have you and my mom been a thing?”

Eda was taken back by the forwardness, “Huh?” when she turned to find her apprentice giving a sly grin. “Oh, yeah, kind of made that promise, huh?” Luz nodded while crossing her arms. “Alright kid,” Eda sat back into the couch, placing her arms on the back of it and resting her legs on the table in front of her, “So, it was about a year ago…”

~~~ Edalyn Clawthorne, not yet known as ‘The Owl Lady’, was not having a good day. She had been shot, stabbed, thrown off a cliff, lost three packages, probably needed to pull a couple of toenails when she got back to Bonesborough which would be a few hours  _ at least _ . At this time, she was still an independent porter, and she  _ rocked _ that white suit but that isn’t important. What  _ is _ important is that she had lost about 500 mL of blood that day and was losing a drop every few minutes. Did she know she was dying? Yes, but that wasn’t going to stop her now. She knew if she stopped she wouldn’t be going anywhere for a day at least. Maybe she’d stop in an hour.

Little did she know, however, that she wouldn’t have to wait that long as she spotted something as rare as an undamaged bike in the wilderness (maybe even more rare): a deer. It was female, and limping badly. Eda stopped to let it pass, but then something else caught her eye: a red suit. All porters knew what Bridges was, but not exactly what suit colour meant what. For all Eda knew, this person was heavily armed and had an itchy trigger finger, so she crouched, getting low to the ground while still being able to watch the person.

The person in the red suit slowly approached the doe, speaking low so Eda couldn’t catch the language or identity of the owner. The doe tried to bolt, hitting a rock with its bad hoof and falling over onto the hard ground. The wearer of the red suit ran over and… started petting it?

Eda tilted her head. Who was this stranger and what did they want? Did Bridges want the doe to repopulate? Yeah, that was probably it. She stood up, about to walk around the animal and person when she same the upside down rainbow. “Shit…”

“H-hey!” Eda whirled around, “Over here!” an arm in red waved towards her.  _ What does she want? _ Eda sighed and began to trudge over to the person. She got close enough to make out the details of the woman’s face now, as well as the doe’s injuries. The doe was shot in the upper part of its front leg, but it would live. Eda might not, as she spotted the face of the woman her first thought was ‘ _ Oh shit _ ’. The woman gave a small wave and held her hand out, “Hello, I am Camillia Noceda from Bridges and I would like to make a contract.”  _ Camillia, huh? That’s a cute name… _

“Eda,” she took the hand and shook once, “and I accept, what do you want me to do?” 

Camillia pointed towards the alcove in the nearby hill, “I need to get this doe to safety and I can’t do it myself.” Camillia pulled out a syringe, “Está bien, niña, solo duerme," she said as she held the doe’s head up and injected the liquid into its neck. The doe quickly fell into a deep slumber and with a grunt the woman lifted half the body, “Okay, time to fulfill your part of the contract.”

The woman stopped being cute after that, hotter than Eda’s last three ex’s combined, “Y-yeah, sure thing.” Eda grabbed the bottom half of the deer as Camillia led the way to the alcove, all three arriving inside right before the timefall hit. Eda collapsed onto the rocky floor as Camillia worked on the doe’s bullet wound and fell asleep. When she awoke, she howled in pain as the bullet was dug out of her.

“You’re a deep sleeper, Ms. Porter,” Camillia said calmly as she placed a patch over the wound, quickly sealing the hole. “I already cleaned, sutured, and bandaged your other wounds,” she stood and walked over to the exit, “The timefall seems to be clearing, so you should be able to get back to your duties soon.”

“And you?” Eda sat up, clutching the recently operated on bullet wound.

Camillia turned and raised an eyebrow, “I have to get back to the distro center and make sure this doe is sent to a wildlife preserve,” she walked over to said animal and checked it over, “You’ll get paid then.”

Eda will admit, it wasn’t her best work, but she replied, “Getting to see your pretty face is enough for me, Ms. Noceda~”

The woman froze. “Are you hitting on me, Ms. Porter?” Camillia said after a moment with a look of surprise on her face.

Eda chuckled, “You bet I am!” 

Camillia began laughing after that, “I’m sorry, Eda was it? I’m afraid I am not into women.” 

“Ah,” Eda nodded, “I see…” She would be lying if she had said her heart didn’t fall into the pit of her stomach.

“But I do enjoy your company,” Camillia noticed the disheartened tone, “and maybe you could come with me and get a private room? I’m guessing you haven’t truly rested in a while.” The small smile won Eda over.

“Alright, sounds good to me.” They both carried the doe to the distribution center over the next hour when the timefall finally stopped. Eda always made sure to visit at least once whenever she was out after that. Eda and Camillia got to know each other better and Camillia learned some things about herself and the rest is history.

~~~

“So basically you turned my mom gay?” Luz asked.

“Yep,” Eda responded, popping the ‘p’.

“Wow,” Luz chuckled, “That explains a lot of her ‘late nights’.” Eda laughed with the girl. When they stopped they were left in a comfortable silence, one which Luz broke, “So what was bothering you before we got to spilling tea?”

Eda once again stiffened. “Well kid,” she pulled the small box out from behind her and handed it to her apprentice, “you got your own cufflink. Welcome to Bridges.” Luz excitedly opened the box and examined the device. With Eda’s guidance, Luz wore it on her left wrist and got it connected to the network. 

“Hey Eda, what’s this mean?” Luz pointed at a white icon of an envelope with a small yellow star at its top right corner.

“That means you have an order specifically for you and nobody else and you need to get on it ASAP.”

“So,” Luz’s voice had changed from eager excitement to nervousness on a dime, “Should I read it?”

“Yeah, but it’s a message for you and only you kid, so I’m gonna head out.”

“Okay, see you later, Eda.”

“See you, kid.” Eda left the room and Luz waited for the sound of the door closing. When the door shut Luz lifted her finger to tap on the icon before hesitating.

“Why me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so a couple of notes: 1. I don't speak Spanish, I used Google Translate because in my experience it is mostly accurate (I have taken Chinese in highschool but can't write it convincingly) and 2. I actually didn't mean for this to be an Eda/Camillia chapter but I found the dynamic cute. Originally this was supposed to be two seperate chapters but I just put them together in the end. Anyways, I don't have a full story arc yet, but I'm working on it. Work is getting more manageable so I should be able to write more now. Anyways, I love you guys, thanks for reading and leave a comment below (if you want, I just really like reading comments because they feed my soul)!


	7. The One They Called King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz reads the message and is assigned an important mission and is told to get prepared with equipment from the quartermaster, and to receive her very own BB unit!

Luz finally tapped the icon. An image of the sender and the email appeared, revealing the sender to be Senator Bump. She remembered meeting him once at a political rally. He was nice. 

The email was longer than she expected:

‘ _ Luz Noceda it is a pleasure seeing that you have accomplished becoming a Bridges porter at such a young age with such a talented mentor. I have great expectations from you and your abilities, so I have a special request: the city of Salem has gone offline. There has been no contact from them in a week, and many fear the worst. I want you to go there and investigate. Find out what happened there and try to bring the area back online if you can. You have permission to request any equipment you feel may be necessary to accomplishing your goal as long as the materials are available. You also have the authority to bring whoever you wish on this mission, regardless of their current orders. You will first go to the quartermaster to acquire BB Unit-38. Once the city is back online you will be reconnected to the chiral network and I will contact you directly via a call over the network. P.S. This mission is confidential and should not be spoken of to anyone. This mission is known only to you and I as of right now, and a panic should not be caused about this unless there is something to panic about. P.S.S If you are wondering why I chose you of all people it is because I trust your resolve. Miss Clawthorne mentioned you feeling uncomfortable and wanting to stop at one point but that you kept going regardless. Stay safe out there, -Bump’ _

_ No pressure _ , Luz thought as she closed the link. Was she really supposed to go into a city that has gone dark? Going dark usually meant only a few things: a voidout, terrorists, or a broken receptor. But she was allowed anything she wanted to take with her, along with anybody she wanted to take with her. She thought for a moment,  _ If I take Eda with me, I can learn more, but… _ Images of BTs chasing Eda came to mind.  _ No.  _ Luz couldn’t put her mentor, or anyone else, in that kind of danger. She was getting a BB unit, so she should be able to see them now! Luz made her way to the locker rooms where she would change into her suit.

When she got there, she found a black suit instead of her other blue one, some boots that fit her feet more accurately, and the greatest technological advancement of humanity yet: the Otter Hood. The suit with the otter hood practically said, ‘Otter With a Darkside’ and she loved it. She made her way to the elevator and found the quartermaster.

“Hi! I’m Luz Noceda, here to pick up my baby!”

The quartermaster looked up at her, “Oh hey! I’m Augustus Porter, at your service!” the quartermaster looked about Luz’s age, maybe a year younger but definitely shorter. He wore the standard blue suit with a blue Bridges hat and less gear attached to the suit, making him more fit to be in a warehouse than out on the open plains. “You said a baby? Like a BB unit?”

Luz nodded vigorously, “Uh-huh! BB-38 to be precise!”

“Sure one second,” Gus walked towards the terminal and typed a few things in. “You must be important, given that you have level 5 clearence.” Gus turned his head towards the girl, showing the sparkle in his eyes.

“Oh, no, I just have an important mission right now. I actually kind of just started,” Luz smiled and spoke modestly, rubbing the back of her neck.

“That’s so cool!” Gus fangirled, “It’s confidential, right?” Gus didn’t really ask as much as state.

“Uh, yeah, it is…” Luz said quietly.

“Oh!” Gus quickly realized how loud he was being and whispered, “sorry!”

“It’s fine!” Luz waved her hand, “Just do you have anything that could keep me safe?”

“Yes actually,” Gus typed on the terminal, hitting enter. A moment later a couple of boxes and a BB pod came rolling down the conveyor belt, “I happen to be an inventor as well as a quartermaster, check it out!” He opened one of the boxes and pulled out a small cylindrical object about the size of a can of soda, “This is a hollow projection grenade! When thrown it projects a copy of you while your odradek places a cloak on your body, effectively making you invisible!”

Luz’s eyes had gained a sparkle to them now as well, “Coooooooooooollllllll…”

“Right?” He pulled out a small device, “this needs to be hooked onto your odradek for it to work, and it may not work the best since I haven’t tested it in the field yet, but maybe you could test it for me?”

“Hmm…” Luz didn’t like the sound of it not working sometimes, “Okay! If I get a chance to test it out for you then I will, promise!” She couldn’t resist the young scientist! If he could get it perfected, it could be used by porters all over! Of course she’d help!

“Great!” Luz took the grenade dispenser box and placed it on her tool rack. As she organized her climbing ropes and anchors and ladders, Gus prepared the BB unit to be connected and registered. “Here is your brand spankin’ new BB unit!” 

The pod’s black cover became clear and showed a small baby with a strange animal looking skull on its head. To be honest, it reminded Luz of a Cubone. 

“Huh? That shouldn’t be there…” Gus began before Luz gingerly took the pod out of his hands.

“Well look at you, you adorable little guy!” she cooed, much to the BB’s satisfaction, “You look mighty proud of your… uh… crown!” It didn’t at all look like a crown, but the BB didn’t have to know that. “I think I’ll call you King!”

“Uh, you shouldn’t-”

“He’s my wittwe baby named King and you wiww wespect his authowity!” Luz said in a baby voice, not looking away from her baby.

“Fair enough,” Gus shrugged, “Good luck out there and safe travels!”

“Thanks!” Luz said as she left the building and went outside before connecting the pod to her suit. King looked up at her after connecting, “Alright, you ready for an adventure, buddy?” he nodded with a determined look, causing Luz to chuckle, “Alright, let’s get to adventuring then!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love King he is my favourite character from toh and you best believe I am giving him a crown later. Anyways, leave your thoughts in the comments and have a great day!


	8. Lullabies of Prancing Kittens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luz has begun her first super secret mission for the Senator! With King on her side, nothing will take her down! Well, as long as she doesn't upset him. Babies can be moody sometimes, don't-cha-know.

Luz walked for a few hours before she finally stopped to sit down and let her feet rest. Thankfully, her feet weren’t aching as badly (except her toe, that still hurt) as it was the first time. Truly a testament to the quality of her new boots. King was calm at the moment, aiding to the surrounding environment of mountains and hills. Luz wondered how much contact she’d have out here. “Hey King,” he looked up at the mention of his name, “do you think I’d be able to call my mom and Eda from all the way out here?” To nobody’s surprise, King tilted his head and gurgled a sound that seemed to signify his confusion. “Yeah, I guess if I wanna know I’ll just have to try it myself.” Luz turned her wrist and the map of the area she would be traversing appeared. She’d have to ask Eda how to use it effectively, like marking out a path and setting waypoints, as she had seen her mentor use it. Luz tapped the arrow to navigate to the other functions of the device, specifically tapping the communications tab. Once she opened it, she found a few contacts already inputted. It was only the few people she actually knew: Eda, Camillia, Gus, and Bump. She tapped on Eda’s name and waited for her to pick up.

After a few seconds her mentor showed up as a projection, “‘Sup kid?” Eda answered with her usual sly grin and cocky eyebrow raise.

“Hey Eda,” Luz gave a small wave with her free hand. 

“So I’m guessing you called because you’re getting lonely, am I right?” Eda crossed her arms and leaned her weight to one side.

“No actually,” Luz pulled King off of her chest and presented him proudly, “I have a BB now!” King giggled and raised an arm triumphantly, as if to say ‘that’s right and don’t you forget it!’ which in turn caused the latina and the porter to laugh.

“Heh, he sure does seem like a character, I’ll give him that,” Eda said after the laughter subsided. Her face took on a serious look before saying, “But be careful, not all BBs are effective and always functioning, got it?”

Luz tilted her head, “Wait, so King just might not see them?” Her heart started to beat faster, “Did nobody test him?” King looked up at her as if to say ‘how dare you underestimate me, minion!’

“Of course he’s been tested,” Eda said matter-of-factly, “all BB units are field tested in a safe controlled environment before they are issued, all I was saying is to be careful and remember that at his core he’s still just a piece of equipment and equipment can still fail no matter how many tests it goes through, understand?”

Luz looked down at King,  _ You won’t let me down, will you? _ She looked back up towards her mentor, “Well, King doesn’t seem like a ladder or some climbing ropes, Eda.”

“He isn’t,” Eda responded quickly, “I guess what I’m saying is that if things don’t sit right with you and you feel like you are in danger there is no shame in abandoning your order, hell I’ve even done it a few times!” She sighed deeply, “Just put yourself first, alright? You have people to go back to who care about you and your wellbeing, got it?”

“Yeah,” Luz nodded with a small smile, “I got it.” She stood up, “Thanks Eda, I’ll call when I stop to rest, alright?”

Eda nodded, “Alright kid, see ‘ya!” Both waved each other goodbye as the connection ended. Luz patted the pod that contained King.

“Don’t worry, I trust you,” Luz readjusted the straps of her backpack, “we’ll look out for each other, alright?” King looked up and tilted his head, “It’s just the two of us out here, so if one of us goes down then both of us goes down, so that’s why I’ll protect you and you’ll protect me.” King nodded affirmatively and gave a thumbs-up, which Luz reciprocated. They resumed their journey afterwards, and kept walking for several hours until the sun began to set. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luz sat down in the alcove with a huff, “Ugh, what a day!” she said, putting emphasis on each word with a short space in between. King gurgled out a laugh, “Aww, you want to play?” King seemed to nod. “Alright, give me a minute and I’ll play with you, ‘kay?” Luz disconnected the pod and placed it onto a rock at about the height of Luz’s waist, “Don’t pout, alright? This stuff isn’t comfortable to sleep in, and I also have to make a call,” Luz unhooked her backpack and placed it carefully onto the ground. You’d think that those engineers could make this radar stuff a lot lighter, but what did she know? Certainly not how to build a radio thing-a-ma-jig. She unzipped the suit and pulled it down to her waist where she tied the arms into a knot. She hated the feeling of being sticky with sweat, but what can you do? She sat down on the rock next to King’s pod, activating the cufflink and dialing Eda. ‘No Answer, would you like to leave a message? Y/N’

Eda must be asleep, so Luz left a message and deactivated her cufflink before picking up King in his pod, “Alright, what do we want to play, hmm?”  _ What can you play with a baby in the equivalent of an egg…? _ She thought about it for a moment. You couldn’t toss them up in the air and catch them like you usually would toss a child up and catch them, even if the pods were built to withstand massive amounts of punishment the baby inside would still get tossed around and hit their head against the top of the device. Peek-a-boo wouldn’t work, they have the ability to see invisible ghosts for pete’s sake, it’d be demeaning! “Huh, King I can’t think of a regular baby thing to do with you.” Luz pushed herself off of the rock with King in arm and laid down against her cargo, “We’ll just go to sleep then.”

King didn’t like that, and he began to cry. The pod took on a reddish hue as the sound began to encompass all Luz could hear as his cries echoed back at her from the walls of the alcove. The odradek sprang to life and began to mimic a mobile, playing a soft melody. Luz began to rock the pod as gently as she could, “Hey, don’t be like that little guy, I want to play but there isn’t a game we can play that would be fun for you!” she tried to explain, but the words fell upon deaf ears as King continued to cry. Luz didn’t mean to make him cry! She really did want to play a game, honest! It’s just King isn’t a regular baby and that fact was just now setting in. King was a Bridge Baby, halfway in the world of the living and halfway in the world of the dead. Could he ever be a normal baby?  _ Now’s not the time for theories, _ Luz shifted the pod to another hand as she activated the cufflink and accessed the files on the device and finding the files she downloaded prior to leaving the city. She opened the first one on the list, and turned the pod to face her wrist, “Look King, look at the cute little kitten!”

King seemed to listen, as he quietened down quickly as the video began to play, “Isn’t it cute? Look! That one is a sneaky kitten, isn’t it?” Luz baby-voiced as a kitten pounced on a pair of jeans while another kitten crawled out from beneath the pants. King began to laugh and the odradek stopped spinning and went back to its deactivated state, folded up behind Luz’s shoulder. The pod’s colour reverted back to its former yellow-orange as well, causing the latina to sigh in relief. “Well, this is certainly easier than the normal way of calming a baby,” she said, remembering the time she had held her cousin’s baby and it cried itself until it vomited all over Luz’s favourite hoodie. She shook the thought away and watched King follow the cute kittens, placing his small hands against the pod as if he was trying to push his way into the world. Luz watched until he fell asleep, and she soon joined him in slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that summary was terrible, I apologize. Anyways, if you want to know the link to that cat video, it is: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://youtu.be/6FQsIfE7sZM&sa=D&ust=1602608089277000&usg=AFQjCNHZ_T2lIwCKjKs0VrA8uG3r24YZlQ


	9. Track and Field

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No path is correct sometimes. Sometimes, what makes a path the right one is your ability to follow it.

A crackle and thunderous boom awoke the young latina and King. King started crying as Luz rolled to the side, further into the alcove. With wide eyes she looked outside to find a small crater not too far from the opening, “Boy, that was close…” Luz muttered as she disconnected King and began to rock his pod back and forth. 

Once King was calmed down enough, Luz untied the arms of the suit around her waist and zipped the suit up once again. Once she made sure the cargo was secure, she pulled the backpack back onto her back. Luz checked the cufflink for any missed calls and found none. “That’s weird, I would’ve thought she’d call by now…” The girl shook her head, shaking with it the darker thoughts and worries she was beginning to have. In hopes of distracting herself, she checked the map and her route once again. At the moment, she was about six hundred meters away from the Knot City, which meant at about two hundred she’d lose contact with everyone.  _ Everyone who could help me… _

Again she shook her head, “Not now, Noceda, you’ve got a job to do!” The latina examined the area surrounding her route more closely. “Mountains, an old highway…” in about one hundred fifty meters she’d be walking through two mountains along an old decrepit highway. Her cufflink began to beep and the map vanished to produce a screen of an incoming call, to which she accepted gladly. “Eda! You’re okay!”

Eda responded with a laugh on the other end, “Of course I am, this is  _ me _ we’re talking about.” The smile Eda was wearing quickly became a worried frown, “But what about you, kid, you doin’ alright?”

Luz waved dismissively, “Pssh, yeah, of course!” The young porter looked outside again just as another bolt of lightning struck the earth. She returned her gaze to her mentor who’s concerned expression had only grown, “I’m fine just waiting out the storm.”

Eda nodded, but her concern wasn’t alleviated, “That may take a while, have you taken a look at the weather report yet?”

Luz’s eyes lit up, “This thing tells the weather!? Awesome!” 

“Yeah, and you can place markers down for you or other porters,” Eda added, “I’ve been through there once or twice, you’ll see them with the connection with your BB.” There was a silence between the two that grew heavier the longer it was held, “Listen, kid, if you run into trouble out there I want you to run  _ away _ from it. Don’t try to fight a bunch of MULEs or BTs, alright? Be safe for me and your mom.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” Luz replied nonchalantly as she stood and her hood pulled up to cover her head.

“You don’t need to deliver everything, you know that right?” Eda asked, biting her lip nervously.

“I know,” Luz held a genuine look in her eyes, “I want to.” Eda nodded, “Well, I’ll call when I’m two hundred meters away from the city, alright?”

With a dejected sigh Eda agreed and said goodbye and Luz responded with a more upbeat and excited farewell before the call ended. The latina held a breath and released it before stepping outside of the alcove and followed the route she had laid out for herself. 

About one hundred fifty meters later the porter found the opening of the highway, though it was more of a gigantic bridge between one end of the valley created by the mountains and the other end. Luz was awestruck, to say the least. The bridge was still mostly standing, even though the latina figured that it must have been almost constantly bombarded by timefall, as it was at this moment. “They just don’t make ‘em like they used to,” Luz joked. The porter took a tentative step forward, just in case the bridge decided that today would be the day it finally fell apart. Luz wouldn’t hold it against the bridge, after all it had held all of these old cars for this long. 

The highway was completely full with the decomposing corpses of old pre-Stranding automobiles, though there were some empty spaces along the bridge but as Luz had previously seen on her map they were empty because of holes in the bridge. The porter remembered something Eda told her at that moment before she began the commitment of crossing the old bridge, ‘ _ I like to always have a route B and you might want to consider doing the same. _ ’ The young girl approached the railing and peered over. The valley plummeted steeply into a dark void. If Luz were to attempt to climb down, she’d most likely slip and fall down into who-knows-what trouble. The highway offered the same threat if it were to collapse.  _ What to do… _

‘ _ Remember, you never know how conditions are changed out there so be sure to bring some climbing equipment, _ ’ Eda’s voice pushed into the forefront of her mind. Of course, she was too excited to meet King that she would forget to grab anything else (except the ‘Decoy Grenades’). Luz looked down at King, “Hey there, little guy, I need your help for a minute,” the pod activated and revealed the BB who looked up to acknowledge the porter, “we have two options here: the old highway that could break and send us to a dark ominous pit,” Luz motioned towards the bridge in question, “or we could try and get down the hole safely and skip the highway, what do you think?” King seemed to look between the two options as if weighing them and their consequences carefully before pointing towards the highway. “Alright then, here we go!”

Luz took tentative steps forward while holding onto both straps of her pack. She wasn’t too heavy, and neither was the cargo she carried to be honest, but she still wasn’t certain of the stability of the structure. After ten minutes she had walked halfway over the highway but was met with an obstacle. A hole, about two meters in diameter blocked her path. “Hmm…” Luz hummed in thought, she could attempt to traverse the other side with more cars and less identifiable stability concerns, or she could try jumping over the hole. “Well, better safe than-” as the porter placed her hands onto the divider of the highway a car in front of her fell through the bridge with a loud crash coming several seconds later, “...sorry…” She let out a nervous chuckle, “Well, I’m good at running!” Luz felt her confidence return as she turned to face the hole. A few deep breaths and stretches before she lowered herself into a runner’s stance. She closed her eyes, focusing on all her senses were offering her at that moment. The wind was blowing a biting chill, the timefall worsening that chill by wetting the suit, the timefall was starting to become heavier now with the occasional boom of thunder in the distance.

Luz’s eyes opened and she pushed off, pushing her body as hard as she could to get as fast as it could. The latina quickly approached the edge and slammed her feet into it and pushed off, lifting her through the air. She heard the laughter of King and looked down at him, smiling to herself. He seemed happy. It was a beautiful jump, a perfect 10/10… 

...at least it would’ve been if she actually stuck the landing, but she wasn’t paying attention to where the highway was and landed leading with her bad toe, causing her to try and pull it away only to slip and slam into the asphalt. Luz’s head throbbed, “...ugh…” Beeping from behind her were the cargo containers, indicating the cargo had also suffered, “Aw, mierda…” 

King began crying, or Luz had just noticed him crying, “Oops, sorry I’m a clutz sometimes…” The porter went to disconnect the pod and rock King back into a more peaceful mood but she noticed the BB aggressively pointing behind her. Before she could question the reasoning, she felt the rumbling beneath her. Luz turned her head slowly, hoping that BTs wouldn’t see her if she moved slowly enough. She didn’t see anything and for a moment she thought that maybe her connection wasn’t stable enough with King for her to see BTs yet before she noticed the hole she cleared chasing after her as she felt the ground begin to crack beneath her. “Oh  _ mierda _ .”

The pain that Luz had felt in her head, shoulder, and toe quickly became nothing as she lifted herself off the asphalt and ran, “NIGERUNDYO!” The ground continued to rumble and shake, encouraging Luz to run as the hole grew, quickly taking the other side of the highway. As the latina ran, an odd thought struck her,  _ I wonder if pizzas are still delivered _ . It would later strike her as an odd thought to be having in a life or death crisis. Her feet slammed into the ground, propelling herself forward towards the end of the highway,  _ Almost there! _ Unfortunately, so was the hole. The ground beneath her was becoming a slope faster than the girl liked. ‘ _ You could slip and fall to your death! _ ’ Camilia’s voice said. It was a good fifteen minute discussion on how dangerous falling was, even if you weren’t falling very far, and how you could seriously injure yourself the way you fell. Luz reached the edge of the quickly collapsing concrete and she slammed her foot down onto it to propel herself to the end of the highway, landing on her stomach. She found her footing and pushed herself up and laid down on the cold, hard, wet ground. 

Her heart hadn’t slowed, her breathing was fast, and her hands shook with a ferocity. King was banging against the pod as Luz slowly closed her eyes. She deserved some rest, afterall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. College is kicking my butt and I'm kind of struggling right now with writing energy and time. Please leave a comment and tell me if I'm doing a good job with this and if I'm not leave a comment telling me how I could improve! Thank you for reading and until next time.


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